[quiddity]

Scoring: MP

1♦ P 1♥ ?

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[PhantomSac]

3H

[jjbrr]

yep

[jdonn]

Ok I better ask. 2♥ natural but 3♥ stopper ask? And bidding the suit you don't have stopped? Are these both standard here? I honestly don't know.

[PhantomSac]

jdonn, on Mar 8 2010, 05:15 PM, said:

Ok I better ask. 2♥ natural but 3♥ stopper ask? And bidding the suit you don't have stopped? Are these both standard here? I honestly don't know.

I think one of 2D or 3D should be natural. I prefer 2D to be natural and 3D to ask for a stopper.

This violates the 2 cuebid rule i guess, but since these bids are STOPPER ASK it makes sense to me to bid the one you don't have.

If 2D=michaels then I prefer 3D to be nat and to have no stopper ask in that suit. I don't mind 2D michaels. 2H cannot be anything other than nat.

[quiddity]

3H stopper ask certainly beats my braindead "double and bid clubs" approach, but 3NT seems pretty unlikely to succeed. Partner's usual range is 0-5 or something? If she can stop hearts, how likely is it that she can stop spades as well? And how likely is it that the opponents will lead anything other than a spade against 3NT on this bidding?

Or are you trying for 3NT with the expectation that it might go down but might be a good sacrifice against the opponent's game? If the opps double 3N, are you running to 4C or are you sitting, hoping that it will increase the chance of a diamond lead?

[PhantomSac]

I think they won't necessarily lead a spade, and if they do they might have only 3 of them to cash, and if they have 4 then maybe partner has the HA, or partner might stop both with like the QJ of both suits etc.

I wouldn't really be shocked even if partner had 8 points, 0-5 seems pretty conservative.

It might seem obvious to lead a spade but if we have a spade + diamond stop a diamond is more likely to be a winnign lead, trying to set up their diamonds while we only have 8 tricks (even if partner has a stopper in hearts, if it's not trick 9 if it's not an immediate trick). For instace if we had KQ xx Ax AKQJxxx or w/e a spade lead would probably not be good. So really I think they could lead either suit, and even if they lead a spade we have a bunch of ways to win.

[jdonn]

Oh yeah I definitely want to bid 3♥ assuming that's what it means, I just wouldn't have thought that's what it means. I would think 3♦ and 3♥ are both preempts. But I can't be sure because I never thought about it before. I do generally think stopper ask bids are luxuries though, like my last resort choice.

[whereagles]

I stopped being scientific with this sort of hands. Just bid 3NT and let them guess what the right lead is...

[Siegmund]

Just a me-too post:

I bid 3♥ here and yes, I think 2♥ natural and 3♥ stopper-asking is standard.